The Girlfriends Literary Group Guidelines

Participation
New Members, upon signing up for the group, you are required to attend a event within the first 30 days. Your first event doesn't have to be a Book Review; it can be a social gathering also.
Beyond your first Meetup, the minimum participation is 6 Book Review Meetings per year to remain in the group. Social Meetups are always optional. It's a priority for our group that we have consistent participation. We all want to get to know each other and that's hard to do when you see someone once every 6 months. :-) (Kids are NOT allowed at the meetings)
“No Shows” are not tolerated in this group; you will be removed from the group after 3 instances. We have an expectation that every member honor her RSVP. We also understand that plans change and we and ask that you keep your RSVP current by updating the site. You have up to 24 hours before the event to change your attendance status on the site if your plans change.
If you find out on short notice (less than 24 hours) that you won’t be able to attend, please call or text before the event has started if you can no longer make it. If no call or text is received, it will be counted as a “No Show”. We are all adults and hold each other to a higher standard.
Read the book. This is a book club after all! We keep things light and talk freely about the book. You won't find a "scholarly" setting here! Just ladies having fun and chatting! Yes, once in a while you may not finish a book, and that understandable. We just ask that you make the effort. If there's a month that you don't finish the book, come to book club anyway, it'll be fun to see you!
No children or significant others at the book club meetings. This is ladies only!
Membership Dues **Dues are currently $0 (AKA FREE) per year :-) Dues may be reinstated if the group returns to meetup.com**
Book Club Meetings
Our group will never be larger than 12 people. If someone leaves, we'll open up to new members. It gets too difficult for more than 10-12 people to have cohesive and focused conversation. It ends up being lots of mini conversations going on and then there’s no longer a group dialog. Please, no children at the meetings.
Book Selection Process:
1. Our monthly book is selected by voter poll. Twice a year, member recommended books will be added to a poll and the members will select only 6 books from those. Each member (with good attendance) can submit ONE book along with ONE restaurant recommendation, The voting poll will be open for 7-14 days, closing before the next Book Review Meeting. The book with the most votes will be what we read next. The book with the 2nd most votes will be read the following month, and so on. The 3 books with the least votes and/or not chosen will be recycled and put back into the pool to be drawn for a later poll.
**If we don't get more than 6 suggestions, the vote will be skipped and the 6 suggestions will be used.
2. For those who wish to contribute, you can submit book and restaurant suggestions to me via our Goodreads group page in reply to the post asking for suggestions.
- When submitting a book for the vote, also include a restaurant suggestion as well. If your book /location are selected, you will be responsible for making the group reservation.
~All book suggestions must be work of fiction, any genre is acceptable. We do NOT read nonfiction, including but not limited to: autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, self-help, etc.
~ Some older published books may be hard to find, so please verify that the book is readily available at most retailers and available in at least 1 eBook format (Kindle, Nook, etc.) as well as available on audiobook. You can do this by doing a quick Google search.
***IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TO BOOK CLUB IN 3 MONTHS IN A ROW , YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT A RECOMMENDATION.
Social Meetups
There are plenty of opportunities to be involved. In addition to our mutual love of books, The Girlfriends Literary Group is about getting to know each other and growing new friendships. These Social Events are never required, but they will create great opportunities to get to know the other ladies and hopefully develop some new friendships. They do not count toward the 6 required Book Review Meetups per year. The more time you spend with the group, the more people you are able to get to know, and the closer of friends you shall become. You will get out of it what you put into it.
Suggestions are always welcome. If you’d like to host an event, please let me know! These are ladies nights! Please, no children or significant others at the Social Meetups unless otherwise indicated in the event description. We may have a family social event at some point.
New Members, upon signing up for the group, you are required to attend a event within the first 30 days. Your first event doesn't have to be a Book Review; it can be a social gathering also.
Beyond your first Meetup, the minimum participation is 6 Book Review Meetings per year to remain in the group. Social Meetups are always optional. It's a priority for our group that we have consistent participation. We all want to get to know each other and that's hard to do when you see someone once every 6 months. :-) (Kids are NOT allowed at the meetings)
“No Shows” are not tolerated in this group; you will be removed from the group after 3 instances. We have an expectation that every member honor her RSVP. We also understand that plans change and we and ask that you keep your RSVP current by updating the site. You have up to 24 hours before the event to change your attendance status on the site if your plans change.
If you find out on short notice (less than 24 hours) that you won’t be able to attend, please call or text before the event has started if you can no longer make it. If no call or text is received, it will be counted as a “No Show”. We are all adults and hold each other to a higher standard.
Read the book. This is a book club after all! We keep things light and talk freely about the book. You won't find a "scholarly" setting here! Just ladies having fun and chatting! Yes, once in a while you may not finish a book, and that understandable. We just ask that you make the effort. If there's a month that you don't finish the book, come to book club anyway, it'll be fun to see you!
No children or significant others at the book club meetings. This is ladies only!
Membership Dues **Dues are currently $0 (AKA FREE) per year :-) Dues may be reinstated if the group returns to meetup.com**
Book Club Meetings
Our group will never be larger than 12 people. If someone leaves, we'll open up to new members. It gets too difficult for more than 10-12 people to have cohesive and focused conversation. It ends up being lots of mini conversations going on and then there’s no longer a group dialog. Please, no children at the meetings.
Book Selection Process:
1. Our monthly book is selected by voter poll. Twice a year, member recommended books will be added to a poll and the members will select only 6 books from those. Each member (with good attendance) can submit ONE book along with ONE restaurant recommendation, The voting poll will be open for 7-14 days, closing before the next Book Review Meeting. The book with the most votes will be what we read next. The book with the 2nd most votes will be read the following month, and so on. The 3 books with the least votes and/or not chosen will be recycled and put back into the pool to be drawn for a later poll.
**If we don't get more than 6 suggestions, the vote will be skipped and the 6 suggestions will be used.
2. For those who wish to contribute, you can submit book and restaurant suggestions to me via our Goodreads group page in reply to the post asking for suggestions.
- When submitting a book for the vote, also include a restaurant suggestion as well. If your book /location are selected, you will be responsible for making the group reservation.
~All book suggestions must be work of fiction, any genre is acceptable. We do NOT read nonfiction, including but not limited to: autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, self-help, etc.
~ Some older published books may be hard to find, so please verify that the book is readily available at most retailers and available in at least 1 eBook format (Kindle, Nook, etc.) as well as available on audiobook. You can do this by doing a quick Google search.
***IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TO BOOK CLUB IN 3 MONTHS IN A ROW , YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT A RECOMMENDATION.
Social Meetups
There are plenty of opportunities to be involved. In addition to our mutual love of books, The Girlfriends Literary Group is about getting to know each other and growing new friendships. These Social Events are never required, but they will create great opportunities to get to know the other ladies and hopefully develop some new friendships. They do not count toward the 6 required Book Review Meetups per year. The more time you spend with the group, the more people you are able to get to know, and the closer of friends you shall become. You will get out of it what you put into it.
Suggestions are always welcome. If you’d like to host an event, please let me know! These are ladies nights! Please, no children or significant others at the Social Meetups unless otherwise indicated in the event description. We may have a family social event at some point.